Chronic Lower Back Pain

Updated

I have major back issues, mi have no insurance, so I can't afford the MRI I need. My DR has prescribed me percocets 10/325 every 4-6 hours along with flexeril 10mgs 1 or 2/day, my DR has recently prescribed 300mgs a day of neurontin and 500mgs of naproxen 2x's/day. None of it helps.

Does anybody have any suggestions I could take to my DR of what could help. I'm in constant pain, can hardly sleep and the muscle spasms occurring more often elevating my pain level. Any suggestions would be of great help, thanks everybody!

***Also I have always had a high tolerance for any medications, which my dr does know about. I just need some advice and help and this site seems to have good people that have actual good advice.

12 Replies

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1

The Flexeril is really a very mild muscle relaxant, so you might want to ask your doctor about trying something stronger that may help more. The muscle spasms can really cause severe worsening of your pain.

There are a few other options on the market, such as Soma, which contains the active ingredient Carisoprodol:

Read More Soma details here.

Or Skelaxin, which contains the active ingredient Metaxolone:


Read more Skelaxin details here.

Those are probably the strongest options and they are both available as generics.

Does anyone else have any advice to add?

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2

Have you tried going to a chiropractor? You may also have a sciatica problem.

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3

yes I have also had back pain .and i have had 4 spinal implants. I have been on just about everything last 12 years! So ask your doctor about lidocaine patches 5% and stay on percocet and try opana er and for muscle spasm try 750mg of methocarbamol and maybe valium..valium helps deaden the nerves .i didn't know that till i came off it...I have CRPS these have been the best to take edge off but the pain never goes away. what i told you about has worked for me , i tried all the ones you listed , did not help but this has been working for me last 4 years and do not have to take so much

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4

Flexeril may be considered a "mild" muscle relaxant by some but its side affect of drowsiness is over the top! I now take Skelaxin for muscle spasms because I can take them and keep right on going. I switched to Skelaxin because when I took the Flexeril, the minute I sat down and stopped talking I'd be out like a light! I found both Flexeril and Skelaxin to be equally effective in terms of relaxing my muscle spasms. I also took Soma at one point quite a number of years ago and that seemed to be the most effective FOR ME in addressing my muscle spasms without disabling drowsiness. I think this is probably just one more example of how medications can affect different people in very different ways. For instance, I have terrible chronic pain from something for which there is no cure and no real treatment other than addressing the pain with pain medication. Over the last 20+ years, I've seen a number of doctors for this (due to my husband's job changes, we've made 3 moves to different states.) They all wanted me to take Ultram or, if they were willing to give me something "really strong", they'd prescribe Vicodin. Neither of these has ever had even the slightest affect on my pain. I wasn't asking for a particular pain medication because I wasn't familiar with pain medications. I just wanted something that WORKED.

As I found each of these pain pills brought no relief from my pain, I started telling my doctor at the time that I'd just go buy jelly beans and take those since they were cheaper and helped just as much! :--) However, at one point, a doctor finally prescribed something else I'd never heard of called Oxycontin. I didn't have much faith that this would work either. To me, it was probably just one more useless pain pill. To my amazement, THIS pain pill actually worked for me and I've been taking it for 15 years. (I was also furious that this relief had been available during all the years I was suffering so terribly but I was left to suffer because of the medical profession's cowardice.) When I finally found an INTELLIGENT doctor about 7 years ago, he put me on a dose level that was actually therapeutic and I've been at that dose for the past 7 years--no increases needed. My point is that these other pain medications likely work great for some people; they didn't work at all for me. This is often true of many medications; everyone's body is different and different individuals can have very different reactions to the same medication.

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5

in response to anyone having to cope with the pain issue. i discovered MSM. BUY IT AT WALMART. costs $10.per month. in the vitamin department. it has worked awesome for me. at 83, i am now functioning without pharmaceutical drugs. have had scoliosis since very young. while getting older developed more back pain plus arthritis. sore joints, the whole nine yards. took me an hour to get moving in the AM.

MSM has been a miracle for me. google MSM and pain relief. start with 500mgs twice per day. otherwise you will go into detox and have flu symptoms. it is an incredible detoxyfier. i started with 1000 mgs three times per day.. as suggested on the bottle. after about four days i was layed out on the bed trying not to even blink. no fun. but so worth it all. i probably had at least 40 years of sludge in my body... can still have a day or two of detox here and there. but i could not care less. how much easier is my life now than without it. now i actually have energy. i just cleaned my carpets yesterday. i can do what i have to do.. still have kids. 12 and 16. driving to and from school. i have to be free to function, and not take me five minutes to get to the car. if you have a known allergy to sulfer do this very slowly. i don't have, so i am free to use as i need to. am now back up to 1000 mgs 3 times per day. can walk like a 20 year old. and get this ! i just knew i could run.. yelled out to my son. "watch this" and i took off running. he nearly had apoplexy. screaming, stop, stop. he just knew i was going to plant myself in the sidewalk. i did not.. love MSM. i saw a commercial with lee marvin, the actor, about 15 years ago. he was talking about how he had been given his life back.. he did the commercial for them without charge. can't believe i could have had all this relief for all the years behind and i kinda let it sail over my head.. am so very blessed that it works for me now. i would tell anyone to just deal with the detox , time is going to go by anyway, and maybe it will work for you as it as worked for me..i did lots of research and then tried it.. i am one happy grandma now. i can do all the things i need to do and some i don't have to.... wishing the best for all who have the ugly pain to deal with..............good luck with MSM.

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6

Thanks so much for the suggestions Elinor! I've heard about it before and it sounds like it's really worked for you. Actually this is interesting because one of our dogs has been dealing with a knee injury and our vet actually recommended we give them glucosamine and msm supplements, so I guess it can work on dogs and humans as well! I'm also going to look online for a version of the supplement to see which one has gotten the best reviews and will let you know what I decide. I like the convenience of buying vitamins off the internet. Hopefully it will be as good as the one you picked up from the store!

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7

Yoga. Stretching. Heat. Ice. Unless you're looking for a buzz.

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8

If your coming to San Diego I can refer you to a good specialist

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9

Lower back pain.
Mybullen & Norflex works very well for lower back pain if use one tab of each and K-FENAK & Coxflam works the best ever.Also one tablet of each...Try it,u won't be sorry as I also suffered especially when doing hard labour in and around my house. I am a 52 yr old female. Was in a taxi accident 19 yrs ago with minor injuries but only discovered back injuries afterwards but never went for x-rays.

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10

There were quite a few times that I couldn't sit up,walk,moved my legs due to severe lower back pain until I chatted to two of my good friends and both adviced me with two different tablets. I barely use them but always keep them in my house especially when I work hard around and inside my house. I was even more clever to use it b4 I started painting etc to avoid lower back pain. Mybullen & Norflex but I stick to K-FENAK & Coxflam. I hope that these tablets will help u all and pray that your suffering will never return again as I know what I have been through.I know the pain.

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11

My back around my waist mostly is in pain. I haven't lifted anything heavy so why am I getting all this pain? I am taking the flamar mx and it is working a bit.

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12

Go to your local emergency room and tell them you're having severe back pain to the point to where you can't do your daily activities and they'll do an MRI or a CAT scan at least you can take that to your doctor and show him what pain you're really in. It's hard for people to relate to the pain we go through because they can't see the pain it's not a visual for them so it's hard for them to understand what we're going through so I would suggest going to the ER and at least getting a CT scan of your back and take that to your doctor. Wishing you the best of luck

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